Stoughton team unanimous it should break up

Team Canada skip Jeff Stoughton (right) celebrates with teammate Garry Vandenberghe after Canada defeated Scotland to win the 1996 World Curling Championships in Hamilton. - (Moe Doiron / The Canadian Press Files)Jeff Stoughton uses his broom to indicate which rock he wants his team to remove during 16th draw of competition against PEI at The Brier in Edmonton in 1999. - (Chuck Stoody / The Canadian Press Files)PEI skip Robert Campbell slips in behind Manitoba skip Jeff Stoughton as he watches his rock with during the 16th draw at The Brier in Edmonton Tin 1999. - (Chuck Stoody / The Canadian Press Files)1999 Brier Champ Jeff Stoughton and his rink are welcomed home at the Winnipeg airport. - (Jeff De Booy / Winnipeg Free Press files)Manitoba skip Jeff Stoughton celebrates as he carries the Labatt Brier tankard up the ice after he and his rink beat Quebec 9-5 in the final in 1999 at left is team fifth Steve Gould and third Jonathan Mead at right. - (Chuck Stoody / The Canadian Press Files)Team Manitoba holds up the Labbat Brier trophy after beating Quebec in the final in Edmonton in 1999. FROM LEFT: Skip Jeff Stoughton, third Jonhathan Mead, second Garry Van Den Berghe, and lead Doug Armstrong. - (Chuck Stoody / The Canadian Press Files)Stoughton yells for his team to sweep during the Brier final against Quebec in 1999. - (Chuck Stoody / The Canadian Press Files)Quebec Skip Guy Hemmings looks over Manitoba Skip Jeff Stoughton's shoulder during the final of the 1999 Brier in Edmonton. - (CHRISTINE VANZELLA / The Canadian Press files)FROM LEFT: Team Canada skip Jeff Stoughton, third Jonathan Mead, second Reid Carruthers and lead Steve Gould celebrate their team's gold medal win over Scotland at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championships in Regina. - (Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press Files)Canadian skip Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg holds his daughter Elizabeth after guiding his team to a 6-5 win over Scotland in the world 2011 championship. - (Michael Burns Photo)Jeff Stoughton eyes his stone after delivering at the GP Car and Home Players' Championship in Grande Prairie, Alta. Stoughton's world champion foursome defeated Edmonton's Rob Schlender 7-3 to advance to the playoffs of the final Capital One Grand Slam championship of the season. - (Anil Mungal / Capital One Files)Jeff Stoughton celebrates his team's gold medal win over Scotland with lead Steve Gould at the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championships in Regina. - (Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press Files)Team Canada skip Jeff Stoughton and his teammates were met by family and supporters at the Winnipeg airport after winning the 2011 World Men's Curling Championship. - (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press Files)

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 23/3/2014 (991 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Jeff Stoughton team is breaking up, with all four members going separate ways at the conclusion of this curling season and the Hall of Fame skip saying Sunday his future in the sport is uncertain.

"I'd like to keep curling next year — that's why we're putting this out there now," Stoughton told the Free Press Sunday afternoon. "But it's got to be a good fit...

ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

Jeff Stoughton (right) and lead Mark Nichols wave to the crowd almost as if to say goodbye after taking bronze at the Brier March 9.

"We'll see how things play out the next little while," Stoughton continued. "And if nothing comes up, I won't play next year."

Stoughton said his team — third Jon Mead, second Mark Nichols and lead Reid Carruthers — will curl two final cashspiel events this winter — in Grande Prairie, Alta., next weekend and then next month at the Players Championship in Summerside, P.E.I.

Stoughton said the team made the decision to go their separate ways late last week after a disappointing season that saw them fail to make the playoffs at the Roar of the Rings at the MTS Centre in December and then lose the 3-4 game to Quebec at the Brier in Kamloops, B.C., earlier this month. They did manage to defeat Quebec in the bronze-medal game.

"We had a lot of success together," said Stoughton. "But we just couldn't get over that hump these last couple years."

'We had a lot of success together. But we just couldn't get over that hump these last couple years'

-- perennial Manitoba curling powerhouse Jeff Stoughton

The team members insisted Sunday the breakup was amicable. "The feelings we have for each other," explained Mead, "are the least of the reasons for doing this...

"I was talking to Mark (Nichols) and I think he put it best: 'This team was put together for a very specific purpose — to win the Olympics. And that didn't happen.' "

Mead said Sunday he remains "very interested" in curling again next year, but like Stoughton will walk away entirely if he cannot find a mix that would allow him to continue at an elite level.

"There's a very small and finite range of options I'd consider in terms of continuing to play," Mead said.

Interestingly, Ontario's Glenn Howard is looking for a new player now after announcing last week his longtime second — and Jennifer Jones' partner — Brent Laing was leaving the team to curl in Alberta with reigning Brier champion Kevin Koe next season.

That could be relevant. Mead is good friends with Howard and previously curled a couple of seasons with current Howard third Wayne Middaugh.

Nichols, meanwhile, said Sunday he has decided to move back home to Newfoundland with his wife Colette, who is expecting the couple's first child this summer.

"It's a family decision. With the baby coming in the summer, we want to be closer to family," said Nichols. "And, to be honest, we miss the Rock."

Nichols moved to Manitoba two years ago specifically to curl with Stoughton after semi-retiring from the game. He said the experience here "rejuvenated" him and he would like to continue curling when he moves home.

"I have no regrets about the decision to move here. I've been proud to wear my Buffalo on my back the last two years."

Mead said when Nichols announced to the rest of the team he was moving back to Newfoundland, it set in motion the chain of events that led to his own decision to leave the Stoughton foursome.

"I figured if there was going to be changes anyway, then I'd like to explore a complete change," said Mead.

Carruthers said he definitely wants to continue curling next season, but he's still deciding at what position. "I'm leaning towards going back to skipping," said Carruthers, who was best known as a skip until he joined Stoughton as a front end player for the 2010-11 season.

The Stoughton foursome with its current team members won the last two Manitoba men's curling championships and also lost the Brier final in 2013 to Northern Ontario's Brad Jacobs.

And three of the four team members — Stoughton, Mead and Carruthers — also won a world men's curling championship in 2011.

Stoughton said while he would like to curl a reduced schedule next season, he will only continue to curl if he can put together a team capable of playing at the highest level. "I'm only going to curl if it's to win," he said.

A Manitoba competitive curling scene without Stoughton would be a first in over a quarter century. The 50-year-old Charleswood skip won his first national title in 1988 when he skipped a Canadian mixed champion and took down his first of 11 Manitoba men's titles three years later.

Along the way, Stoughton won Brier titles in 1996, 1999 and 2011 and world championships in 1996 and 2011.

Among the potential new teammates for Stoughton would be Brandon's Rob Fowler, whose longtime third Allan Lyburn has said he's taking next season off. Fowler previously curled second for Stoughton and those teams won Manitoba titles in 2007, 2009 and 2010, losing the Brier final in 2009.

The elephant in the room is Winnipeg's Mike McEwen, who has said he won't make any decisions on his team's future until after the cashspiel season is over.

McEwen has lost three provincial finals to Stoughton over the years and a fourth to Fowler and was widely expected to make some personnel changes of his own at the end of this season. McEwen could now poach from Stoughton's old team. Carruthers, for instance, is a proven winner and would make an interesting new third for McEwen, or he could simply stand pat in hopes that being the only constant in a sea of turbulence would be enough to finally get his team that elusive Manitoba title next winter.

Turbulent times

CANADIAN men's curling has perhaps never been in greater flux than it is right now.

Jeff Stoughton's announcement on Sunday his team is breaking up after this season comes just days after another curling legend, Ontario's Glenn Howard, announced his longtime second Brent Laing is leaving to curl with reigning Brier champion Kevin Koe in Alberta next season.

What's more, there were multiple reports last week Kevin Martin's longtime front end of Ben Hebert and Marc Kennedy are also on the move and will also curl with Koe next season, leaving Edmonton's Martin -- a two-time Olympic medallist -- without a team for 2014-15 at the moment.

And finally, there are unconfirmed reports that John Morris -- who curled in B.C. with Jim Cotter this season and lost both the Roar of the Rings final and the Brier final -- will head back to Alberta next season and possibly take over the remnants of Koe's team, which would be entitled to return to next year's Brier as Team Canada if three-quarters of the team's personnel remain intact.

History

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